Water Heater Anode Rods, What they do & How to change them
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
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Standard anode rods are sacrificial devices meant to protect tank water heaters from corrosion and failure. Annual maintenance on tanks is typically not carried out resulting in the depletion of the anode rod and corrosion buildup in the tank.
Either replacing an old anode rod with new or replacing with a power anode rod is a great step in doing what you can to prolong the life of a tank water heater.
Master plumber Eric Aune talks about what an anode rod is, how it works and what are some of the options for replacement. - Zábava
Great explanation and demo! We have rental properties and one has the rotten egg smell. This helped us understand the issue.
Appreciate your warrantee risk cautions. Way to go!
Fantastic addition to our island kitchen
I’ve replaced magnesium rods with aluminum for that same smell reason and had pretty good luck. That’s always what I was taught to do. As well as sometimes softeners will react oddly with some magnesium rods so I’ve had to replace them in some of those situations as well
That's good to know, our water is smelly well water and I didn't even realize this was a factor
Great video. Thank you.
Valuable! Thanks, Eric. Now, I'm educated.
Super at explanations . Very well done A+
4 years ago I replaced the anode rods (1 on outgoing side, 1 standard rod), on my now 18 year old Whirlpool 40gal. electric water heater.
The old rods were pretty eaten up, but still had the steel core and a bit of magnesium left. The water heater was 14 years old at that time (had never replaced anodes until then). I had to use my electric impact to get the standard rod loose.
Is it time for replacing them again?
Thanks for the interesting video. Have you ever cut open a tank that had the electric anode to see the result?
Great video. I have a water heater thats 4 years old and my house uses well water. I have a state electric water heater with aluminum anode currently.
My water heater hasn't been flushed yet,,(my bad on that)
If I used the electric anode, do I still need to flush my water heater annually or no? Thx
I replaced my anode rod with a magnesium rod 6 months ago and just pulled it to inspect at the same time as flushing the water heater. I was surprised to find the rod almost totally caked with mineral deposits, however I didn't see much deterioration of the rod itself. If I installed an electronic anode rod where would all those deposits go? Would they wind up on the bottom of the tank? BTW, the more Noble a metal the LESS reactive it is. Gold and Platinum are Noble metals.
Very nice video, never heard of anode rod replacement until a couple days ago. The video demo was nice and your experience for replacement.
Is there any way to check the anode rod without removal? Have a 12 year old GE on city water never been replaced, however no odor from water.
Thanks
I was wondering if you replace the magnesium rod with a power rod, do you have to use any kind of dope on the threads, and if so what kind do you recommend ?....thanks for the informative video, I have never heard of these rods before !!!
I just noticed the kei truck in the back lol. Pretty cool.
Great content, magnesium is less noble than the tank. Magnesium rod anodes and the MMO “mixed metal oxide” anodes are commonly used in city water storage tanks as well.
The MMO anode is typically a platinum or niobium coating over a Titanium or copper substrate. It’s really important not to scratch the coating of the MMO as you will remove the anode itself. Also the MMO anode will not self consume, over time you will not see a reduction as you would a magnesium anode.
how much breakaway ft lbs do you need to get the rod out? I was wondering what the cheapest powered impact wrench I could buy to do the job?
I have a 23 year old ao smith water heater . Getting that smell. The question is do i i just replace the water heater or swap to an aluminum anode . And is there any way to get a bradford white water heater on my own
Cool vid
Just tried unsuccessfully getting mine out of a 50 gal Rheem. Losing respect for my HF Earthquake air wrench that will get lug nuts off easily, but couldn't get a Honda crankshaft bolt off, and now couldn't get this anode loose even using 1/2" hose (granted a long 75 foot run from the garage, AND my 30 gal compressor only has a 1/4" regulator. Even at 90 and even 120 psi. May be not enough air for it. But, I don't want to spend $300 for the electric Milwaukee since I am already set up for air. I finally got that crank bolt off with a 42" long 3/4" drive Tekton breaker bar, which I now call 'The Beast." I think it will spin that water heater though. Any suggestions? Could a second guy actually hold the tank good enough for me to break it loose with The Beast?
Your post indicates it's now 5 months old, so I'm guessing that you solved the problem and I am curious about how you ended up doing it. Please post an update so that we all can learn from your experience and knowledge. Thanks!
Well, I guess I had given up on it and was just going to replace the unit when it rusted out. However, on 7/3/23 my Honeywell water alarm wire I have lying in the leak pan alarmed. Went up and checked it out and slight darkened moisture (not water) was around bottom at heater/leak pan interface (the only place was back on the hot water outlet side and also where anode is). The alarm is VERY sensitive. Doesn't even have to have actual drops of water touch it- don't know how that works but I love it. Rearranged wire and the alarm never re-occurred. Next day, went up again and checked. Same moisture there, and I wondered if the anode was leaking since possibly I loosened it before-no, anode connection was dry. Decided to give it another go and get that anode out. Turned off water and drained some water out and had my adult son hold the heater so it would not spin and I put that 40 inch 3/4" drive Tekton breaker bar on it (aka The Beast) and it still wouldn't budge. Cursed the anode and sprayed PB Blaster on the anode and waited an hour. Tried again and the anode broke loose. PB Blaster is my buddy. Anode still had about 30% of material on it but was down to bare wire 1" at top. This was a Rheem "Premium Anode" and it was a much thicker diameter than regular ones, so it still had some life left even after six years. What I do is, after the anode breaks loose, stop and just jam a paper towel down around it before removing it in case some PB is puddled up there. There wasn't any on the towel on mine. Use the penetrating oil with confidence if you have to. It works. I don't think any got into the water. No odor of PB Blaster in the my shower later. Replaced anode with a Rheem segmented anode using gray Teflon tape on the threads. When we disturbed the heater doing this all of this, the Shark Bite corrugated steel pipe connector attached to the hot water nipple started obviously leaking at the connection. Tightened it but still leaked. This is probably where the original moisture was coming from. Went to HD and bought a package of rubber water heater connector gaskets and replaced the 6 year old gasket. Stopped the leak. Haven't been up since, but will soon because the AC condensate drain is overdue for its monthly bleaching. No alarms. I'm hoping the Shark Bite rubber gasket was the leak, probably a seep, that caused the original alarm. If it is still moist around the bottom, then I may have a leak at the nipple/heater connection, which will be a new problem. @@Naked.Stranger
Quite an "adventure", @@freespirit1975 !!! WOW! PB Blaster, eh? I'll have to get some of that for my "problem-solving arsenal"! Thank you for the update!
I had to give up I tried a breaker bar and a impact wrench nether worked. Unit is between 5-7 years old.
I would try a wrench and hammer, hammer the wrench. Same idea as the impact obviously but you can get a lot more impact with a hammer.
I had to switch my annode rod to Aluminum and put on a UV light filter to get rid of the smell.
Typically UV isn’t necessary when using a powered anode. Nothing wrong with one but more leak paths and added maintenance
What's the best way to clean the threads to insert a brand-new anoid rod. Too make a snug fit and seal
The inlet thread port to my take has left over material caked it the threaded port. How to clean the inlet threads for a new rod replacement.thanks
I’d try a wire fitting brush. I would use both thread tape and thread sealant on the new anode threads.
Are you ever ‘afraid’ for lack of a better word replacing an anode rod on an older tank? For example, stripping the threads or not being able to get the new one in?
Yah, fun! :-)
Your explaination of metal nobility is incorrect. Magnesium is less Noble than Steel.
The video could have been half the length and still got out every you wanted to say. Too much rambling.
Could not disagree more...